Headteacher

Head Teacher

Head Teacher

Highbury Grove School , Islington

As part of her widely acclaimed efforts to turn this failing school around - which included rehousing it in new premises - the head teacher, Truda White, had an idea.
The 1,300 pupils at the school speak 50 different languages as their mother tongue.
Music, she felt, could act as a common language to unite them and mould them into one community.

And she took that one stage further.
Rather than embracing the musical enthusiasms of the children, she decided upon something more timeless - the classical canon.

It is modelled on the hugely successful scheme developed by Truda White, former head teacher at the Highbury Grove School, Islington and allows students with no previous experience to study, play and perform in ensemble and orchestral groups.

As recently as two years ago, when things were improving, a supply teacher secretly filmed wild scenes in the classroom for a sensational television documentary - although teachers and pupils protest that this was an inaccurate picture of the school which, under its current head, Truda White, is coming on in leaps and bounds.